The TV channel, Telecinco, has found itself in hot water- or perhaps chocolate – after a contestant complained of being denigratedon one of its reality shows, Campamento de Verano, a cringeworthy cross between Big Brother and I’m a Celebrity. On the show a clutch of male and female contestants are thrown together for several weeks in Spain’s Sierra de Gredos regional park in the guise of explorers and given kitsch uniforms and survival kits. Similarly to other such programmes the contestants are made to carry out various tasks and trials, receiving forfeits if they fail to make the grade.

Spanish viewers would be appalled at the humiliating treatment of contestants on UK reality tv shows

As a penalty for a misdemeanour on the show Noemí Merino, a previous contestant of Gran Hermano, the Spanish version of Big Brother, was forced to strip down to her bikini whereupon a male presenter showered her with liquid chocolate from a watering can. Other contestants were jokingly encouraged… Read more

They’re at it again. Truly it drives me to distraction and I know it shouldn’t but today as I coursed along the luxuriously curvy mountain road towards the village of Deia I spotted a fluorescently white, middle-aged couple eating white sandwiches on a narrow and muddy apology for a lay-by in full view of the traffic. What’s odd about that, I hear you cry?

Why picnic by the roadside when the hills beckon?

Well for one thing this British couple (identifiably so for a multitude of reasons that I shan’t bore you with now) were sitting on fold-up picnic chairs cheek by jowl with the green municipal rubbish bins. And furthermore they were situated a hair’s breadth from the road where they appeared to be drinking up the spluttering exhaust fumes of every passing vehicle.

On the far side of the asphalt Paradise beckoned. An azure sea rolled into infinity like a bale of rich blue silk dotted with white crested waves and tiny fishing … Read more

What is it about the UAE that made Burger King decide to release its limited edition new pizza burger here? The gigantic dish – the size of four Whoppers – originally launched in Burger King’s flagship outlet in New York in September. It’s never been on sale in Europe and is currently only available at the New York Whopper Bar and, strangely, in Oman and the UAE.

It makes a Whopper look tiny. Just don't scoff it all yourself

The pizza burger is a 22cm bun stuffed with six burgers topped with pepperoni, cheese, red pesto and Sicilian sauce and it contains an artery-busting 2,520 calories, 144g of fat and 3,780mg of salt. If you buy the Dhs 59 (£10) “meal”, it comes with three portions of fries and three cans of Coke, taking the total to 4,017 calories and 198g of fat. It’s designed for sharing between three people, but doctors… Read more